Sensei never believed in the term “work-life harmony”. He dismissed it as a fluffy concept designed by organisational psychologists to help them advance in their career. Useless and impractical — like the appendix in his body.

But that Sunday, inspiration struck him out of the blue. He had brought home his laptop; his household chores were not going to get done by themselves; and his accumulating cobweb of to-do things sank in his compressed mind, weighing down his spirits. He bolted out of the sofa, his look of fresh determination adding to his purposeful gait.

To regain (some semblance of) control over his life, he took his laptop to the kitchen, turned it on and watched one of the many training videos he was entrusted to learn from. Simultaneously, he took out the cutlery and utensils that had been left overnight in the dishwasher to wipe them one by one. Pairing an unpleasant household chore with a work task he couldn’t summon enough energy for during his hectic workweek. Blending work and life. Leaving his children to their devices (read: consuming mind-numbing YouTube videos) without guilt — because hey, a perpetually exhausted parent-teacher can only do his best.

At the end of an hour, his spirits felt lighter. Not that sunflowers were blossoming in the oasis of his mind — but he did his chores, even cleaned the toilet. Watched several videos — and formulated a mental list of feedback to give to the organisers after he was done with the training. Sat down to be present and really watch a YouTube video that his son wanted him to watch — something about the longest train journey from Portugal to Singapore.

“So this is what work-life harmony feels like,” he thought inwardly to himself as he marshaled his children out of the flat to have breakfast. To merge both sets of responsibilities in the same time frame and accomplish them decisively, not letting the candle burn on both ends. Breakfast would be another tough battle, but he would take this part of the morning as a win, damned it!

His wife was still sleeping blissfully — catching up on her sleep debt.